Something Bold
by AmeliaEverdeen
Summary: One-shot Modern AU. Matthew is a stressed student who's studying for his lawyer's exams and Mary is his childhood best friend he's been in love with for ages. When she comes back from one of her trips to pay him a visit, Mary decides to make it her mission to find him a girlfriend, but she will realize things are easier said than done. Rated M for reasons.


**A/N: **_What you are about to read does not pretend to be more than it is: something silly that just came up to me. It's classic really and mostly wish-fulling to me, but I hope you will enjoy it anyway. I had started it a while back and thought it wasn't worth posting, but since it's summer and my other stories are pretty angsty at the moment, I decided something lighter was needed._

_Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!_

**Something Bold**

The sound of the door bell spread throughout the small two-room flat. It was so loud and insistent that it woke Matthew up from his deep slumber between the papers on his desk. His head stood up quickly e looked for the round clock in the small living room. It must have been the tenth time that he had fallen asleep on his desk that month, his lawyer's exams were fast approaching and they were driving him crazy.

"Just a minute!" he yelled, conscious that the person at the door had probably heard a set of incoherent mumblings, and managed to stand up straight and retrieve his flip flops before heading to the door.

"Heeeello blue eyes!" an ecstatic voice cried once he opened the door, "Missed me?" she said in her usual flirty voice before overwhelming him with a hug.

Matthew blinked furiously at the quickness of her gestures, and as soon as she was in his arms he inhaled the sweet scent of her long dark hair and almost lost his balance. "Mary?!" he voiced incredulous, when she finally allowed him to close the front door behind her back. "I wasn't expecting you until much later!" he offered to justify his indecent state.

Mary let herself go on the brown leather couch and tossed her big bag aside. She looked back at him and smiled her ever so charming smile, "I know you did, but as soon as I got off the plane I realized I simply could not wait any longer to see you!"

There she was. The beautiful Lady Mary Crawley, first daughter of the Earl of Grantham, ready to turn his life upside down right from his second-hand leather couch. It was the same old story, every time Mary marched back again into Matthew's boring life, she looked more and more beautiful than the last time and his heart felt like it could hardly take it anymore. But as each time Matthew promised himself to grow up, to grow over her, her smile was way too beautiful not to give in.

Mary and Matthew had been best friends since their early teenage years. Their great-great-great-great grandparents were third cousin (hence the shared last name), and Mary's father had thought it was amusing to invite Matthew and his mother to move from Manchester to Yorkshire when Matthew was only fourteen years old. Matthew and Mary were the same age and a friendship between them had grown incredibly quickly, even if he wasn't exactly of the same social background of all of her other posh friends. They possibly meant more to each other than anybody else, they had even been each other's first kiss, but while Mary had insisted on it being purely experimental, it had meant to Matthew more than she could have ever imagined.

Looking back, he had probably fallen in love with her from the first moment that he had laid his eyes on her, and his feelings had only continued to grow from high school to the years they had spent together at Oxford. But it had been sure to him that Mary did not return his feelings, and even if it had been crystal clear to anybody else, she still had not acknowledged the fact that her best friend in the whole world would have probably married her on the next day.

After graduating from Oxford they had both moved to London, and while Matthew had been working hard to become a solicitor, Mary had decided to take a sabbatical which had inevitably turned into an indefinite period of traveling around the world and partying with other kids from the aristocracy and minor superstars. Matthew was glad to see she still had her feet on the ground and he certainly appreciated her efforts to come and see him from time to time, but that didn't make it any easier for him to actually get over her.

"I should probably go take a shower," Matthew said after they had had a cup of tea, "I doubt you want to be seen with me in public looking like this."

"Good call," she smiled tossing aside her mobile phone which was vibrating uncontrollably, "now go make yourself handsome so we can finally go to dinner!"

Matthew disappeared inside his bedroom and tossed his dirty clothes on the floor before entering the shower of his personal bathroom. He had to use all of his strength to restrain himself from doing something stupid, especially with Mary just in the other room; but when he came out and wrapped himself with a towel, he almost jumped when he found Mary sitting on his bed.

"Mary, what the heck!"

"Oh, please! I haven't seen anything!" she grinned and turned her attention back on his clean clothes laying on the bed next to her.

"Can you please tell me why are you here?" he asked, making sure he had turned his back to her right before he had started to blush. He picked up a pair of boxers and wore them quickly before risking to be exposed.

"I'm here to choose your outfit for tonight, naturally. The shirt you've chosen does not match the trousers."

Matthew sighed loudly. He hated when she did that, but all the same he picked the clothes she had chosen and worn them under her triumphant grin. "Aren't you gonna get that?" he asked eyeing at her phone beside her, "It has been buzzing for hours!"

Mary looked quickly at the screen again and with a resolved expression she said, "Tell you what, I'm turning it off. Tonight it's just you and me, nobody else will interfere."

Matthew looked a little bit puzzled, but then asked, "Are you sure?" he knew she lived for her mobile.

"Positive."

* * *

Dinner was nice enough. A couple of laughs, a few charming tales of Mary's latest trip and her bad old habit to steal Matthew's fries from his plate. It hadn't taken Matthew too much time to fall hard for her all over again, to get addicted once again to her soulful brown eyes and the brilliant sound of her chuckles. As usual he paid for the both of them, after their almost rehearsed little fight over the check, and they walked together to their new destination.

"Ok, this club I'm taking you is supposed to be cool," Matthew warned her, as Mary tried to hide her amusement. "I have never been there and I may have heard wrong, so consider yourself warned!"

They walked around the corner to the supposed club's entrance and quickly moved to get in the queue, "Well there's quite a lot of people," Mary smiled, stroking Matthew's arm reassuringly, "and quite a lot of … _guys._"

"I—is it a problem?" Matthew muttered as they finally got in and approached the bar.

"No, no of course not!" Mary chuckled to his insecurity as they ordered their drinks, "You haven't been going out much, have you?" she asked as she gave a look around the place.

"Is that so obvious?" Matthew replied scratching his forehead for the frustration, "It's not like everyone has daddy's company to welcome her whenever she feels like working! Some of us have to work hard to find a job!"

"Please!" Mary commented sipping her fruity drink, "If I know you well enough, I can safely say you've probably worked twice as much than it was required. You'll do great!"

"What can I say," he began looking at her playfully, " someone got me used to studying for two at Oxford!"

"Wait," Mary interrupted him as she looked away and then looked at him again, "Now I get it …"

"You get _what?_" Matthew asked puzzled as Mary hinted he should look at a couple of men who were looking in their direction with a dubious grin on their faces.

"It's _gay's night_..." Mary explained as Matthew's gaze looked more and more confused.

"What?!"

"This is why there is so many men tonight," she went on containing her giggles, "it's gay's night tonight, have you checked the events before settling on you choice?"

"I … ehm … no!" Matthew mumbled as his ears went instantly crimson red. It didn't matter how hard he tried to impress her, he always ended up making a huge fool of himself.

"Hey …" Mary said then, grabbing his hand and caressing it gently, " … it's alright! I don't care! I only wanted to have a nice time with you!"

"I know, but I had promised you something cool and—"

"You're cool," she shut him up with her beautiful smile, " you just need to step things up, do something bold for a change! You'll always be brilliant in the academic field, you don't need to sacrifice your life for it."

There was a pause between the two of them, Mary was staring mindlessly at her empty glass and Matthew was inevitably staring at her. He looked at her pensive expression and all he wanted to do was telling her she didn't need her to worry about him, he _was_ fine and he didn't need to find excitement in his life because all the thrill, the passion he wanted was sitting beside him at that bar. But as she sat there looking so beautiful and so sure of herself, with her life perfectly on track with him out of the picture, he simply could not do it. But he couldn't give her up either, so just like every other times he was going to stand there and endure her beauty, her smile, her friendly smacks until she decided to pop out of his life yet again.

"You know," Mary said at some point, taking him completely by surprise, " I was probably wrong in saying you should get out more. I mean – partying and clubbing is not for everyone," she went on as Matthew was trying to figure out where her speech was headed, "maybe the only thing you really need is a girlfriend …"

"Oh no!" Matthew sighed exasperated, " Not this again!"

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing is wrong with it, but I can't have you playing match maker for me again!" Having everyone noticing you were staring at the wrong girl the whole night during a double date had already been humiliating once, Matthew certainly wasn't going to go through that again.

"We've already been through this! I had hoped you and Anna would hit it off, but it was not your fault! We both know now she's into much older men!" Mary replied mentioning her blonde friend who had only taken just a few minutes into their date to figure out Matthew was helplessly in love with Mary.

"Mary, it's not that …"

"Matthew, you do need someone in your life! Someone that can help you get some relief from all the stress you're under! Someone you can have fun with, someone you can share your thoughts … I mean, look at me and _Kem—_"

"You and Kem?!" Matthew echoed her with a bitter laugh. He hated it when Mary mentioned him and she knew it. Kem, or better _Kemal_, was the annoyingly handsome son of an ambassador Mary had been dating for the past six months. If Matthew had born any hope to compete with any other of Mary's past boyfriends, he certainly did not have anything to against his _exotic_ complexion.

"Are you seriously presenting you and Kemal as a good example?" he asked her half amused, half bothered by the root their conversation had taken.

"Yes I am, do you have any problems with that?" Mary replied just as bitter, annoyed by the judgemental tone Matthew's voice had acquired.

"You and Kemal have almost nothing to talk about." Matthew simply pointed out.

"Well, he and I don't need to do much talking! Plus I have you, don't I?"

" … and you fight _all _the time!" Matthew went on, turning their heated exchange into a challenge.

"That just makes the make up sex even better!" Mary retorted, but as she was looking into Matthew's clear blue eyes, her emotions betrayed her. She looked away, obviously disturbed by the topic.

"Wait a minute … You two had a fight, didn't you?" Matthew asked all of a sudden, baffled by his own realization.

"What?" Mary replied with audible panic in her voice.

"Of course! That is why your mobile was buzzing like crazy and why you came to my flat early! You know the guy hates me and you wanted to make him jealous!"

"No Matthew, please!" Mary urged him, grabbing his arm to stop him from leaving. "It's true, ok? We had a huge fight on the plane, but I really wanted to spend time with you this evening!"

"Mary I simply cannot understand what you are still doing with that guy! He drives you mad, and you've never felt the need to lie to me before!"

"That is exactly why!" she cried exasperated, "It is you who doesn't like him, and it doesn't matter what I say or do because you'll always say he isn't good enough for me!"

"Because it's true!" _No one is_, Matthew thought as both of their breaths started to relax after the heated exchange.

"Look," Mary began as a peace offering, "I know you only tell me those things because you care and I appreciate it, but I'm a big girl, I can make my own choices. If I chose to be with you tonight it has nothing to do with my fight with Kemal, but simply because you are my favourite person in the whole world." She stopped to smile, making Matthew forget everything he was mad about, "And if I'm being pushy sometimes, it is only because I want to see you happy and I intend to make it happen, even if it is the last thing I do!"

Matthew lingered for a moment, but Mary knew very well he simply couldn't stay mad at her, especially when she looked at him that way, "_Alright._" he finally said.

"Really?!" She asked, unable to contain her excitement. As Matthew quickly nodded and grinned in her direction, Mary jumped and ran to hug him tightly. "We should hurry up, then!" she then cried without wasting any time.

"Where are we going?" Matthew chuckled as Mary took his hand and guided him out of the club.

"To get the two largest coffee we can find!" Mary answered promptly, but realized from Matthew's expression that her answer had not been explanatory at all. "We need caffeine if we're going to drive all night to Yorkshire!"

"What?!" Matthew cried shocked, as she simply smiled and entered one of those bars opened 24/7. Mary purchased indeed two huge american coffees and said absolutely nothing until they reached Matthew's car.

"If we leave now, we can totally make it for breakfast!" She pointed out cheerfully as she checked the time on her iphone. "I'm definitely in the mood for Mrs Patmore's crepe suzette!"

Matthew groaned loudly as he started the car and obediently followed her directions to the nearest motorway junction, "Mary can you please tell me now why are we driving to Downton Abbey in the middle of the night?"

"Papa is having a garden party tomorrow," Mary began as the road in front of them finally appeared clearer, "There's going to be a lot of professors and alumni from Oxford for his historical association. I figured that since the girl of your dreams isn't hiding in a nightclub somewhere, she might be discussing some boring topics at Downton tomorrow!" as Mary smiled naughtily once again, Matthew took a sip of his black coffee and as he sighed he turned the car around to enter the highway.

* * *

It had been a tough drive, but around seven thirty in the morning they had finally passed the Downton sign. Matthew was struggling to keep his eyes open since he had finished his coffee several hours before and even though Mary had promised to keep him company because it had all been _her_ idea, she had shamelessly fallen asleep just one hour into their drive.

As he turned right into the familiar country road, Matthew moved his eyes from the road to glance at the sleeping beauty beside him for a moment. Ten years into their friendship and he still couldn't figure out how could she possibly look so enchanting during her sleep, and how could she possibly even sleep through a hurricane for that matter. The sun had already reached a quite high point in the sky and as the light forcefully creeped through the front window of his modest car, Matthew could see Mary's eyeballs moving fastidiously under her eyelids.

"_Mary _…" he whispered, brushing her arm softly. Mary began to move slightly still in her sleep and purred like a cat in response. Matthew chuckled, as usual she woke by degrees. " Mary we're here." Matthew insisted, as the familiar towers of the Abbey started to pop out from the horizon.

Mary mumbled something incomprehensible as her eyes slowly fluttered open but then shut again promptly, complaining about the sunlight. "_G'morning_" she managed to pronounce, still not able to open her eyes fully. She readjusted her posture on the passenger seat and checked herself in the mirror. " _Ugh. _My hair looks terrible!" she complained as it was one of the world's worst problems. Matthew chuckled and made the last turn on the gravel path straight to the main entrance of the big house. As usual Lord Grantham's faithful butler must have had spotted the car in the distance, because the doors had been opened and Matthew could already spot tiny figures waiting for them beside the door.

"What a jolly surprise!" Cora cried as Matthew pulled the handbrake and Mary quickly squirmed out of the vehicle. While Matthew turned off the motor properly, Mary had gone to hug her mother and sisters fondly.

"We were so surprised that we had interrupt breakfast!" Edith cried in her sharp tone, as Mary proceeded to greet her as well.

"I've missed you too, Ed." she replied, still too sleepy to start an argument.

As Cora and Sybil urged Mary to tell them all about her latest trip, Robert kissed her chastely on the cheek and quickly ran to greet Matthew who was coming out of the car.

"Matthew, dear chap! We didn't think you were coming! You never RSVPed!"

"Believe me, Robert … I had no idea myself we were coming!" Matthew grinned and shared a complicit look with the Earl of Grantham as they both eyed their favourite brunette of the family.

"Will you be leaving right after the Garden Party tonight, or shall I have a room prepared for you to spend the night? I heard Isobel has left for doctors without borders again …" Robert inquired and as Matthew nodded and prepared himself to decline his generous offer, he was quickly overstepped by Mary who interjected.

"Oh no, Papa. We're staying the whole weekend." she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, while Matthew's jaw dropped. He was already wasting enough time as it was by spending an entire day away from his prep books, imagine a _weekend_! "Don't look at me like that," Mary told him wisely foreseeing his response, " You could use the time off to reset your brain!"

"I'm sure Mary is right," Robert agreed cheerfully, " and I can't lie and say that I'm not enthusiastic about you staying the weekend."

Matthew scratched the back of his head nervously and looked at the two ecstatic smiles in front of him, "Alright …" he gave up reluctantly, " but I don't think I can impose on you for a whole weekend. I will be staying at home."

"Nonsense!" Robert protested.

"What is the point in wasting the gas to go back and forth everyday, dummy?" Mary pointed out with a grin that indicated she knew she was right. Before he could give in once again, Mary turned her head triumphantly in the butler's direction and instructed, "Carson, have his usual room prepared, won't you?"

Carson nodded and quickly disappeared into the house to oblige her request and just because they were all tired to hear about Edith's growling stomach, they all hurried back inside. The breakfast buffet was as always the biggest Matthew had ever seen and he wasted no time in filling up his plate and sitting on the place Mary had reserved for him next to her. As he prepared himself to taste those delicious scrambled eggs, he chuckled as he noticed Mary grinning like a five years old girl at her crepe suzette.

"Milord, could I get you your newspapers now?" Carson inquired as he made his come back in the dining room.

"Yes, Carson. Now would be the time." Robert replied as kindly and as elegantly as ever as the butler went to fetch the paper himself. He returned into the room at an impressive speed for a man of his age and placed on the table the Times for Robert, the Sketch for Cora and the Sun for Edith. As Carson placed the last paper on the table, Mary rolled her eyes ad Edith's reading choice.

"Seriously Edith?" she didn't waste the opportunity to remark, "How can you still read something so dumb and useless?"

Edith managed to do her best to avoid the older sister's sharp remark and picked up her tabloid as if nothing had been said. He eyes quickly scanned the page undisturbed until a small grin appeared on her face, "It might be dumb," she said bringing up Mary's words again, " but maybe it's not so useless …" she declared triumphantly as she handed the paper to Mary to see for herself.

Matthew didn't pay much attention to the usual heated exchange but when he casually glanced back at Mary, he saw her face growing pale and paler while reading the front page until she slammed it on the table and jumped on her feet to run out of the room. Cora and Sybil quickly stood up to check the front page of the Sun themselves and Matthew decided to glance at it as well before going off to see how she was doing.

_**Is it getting colder between our favourite Ambassador's offspring and the blue-blooded Yorkshire beauty? **__See below all the pictures of Kemal's night out with Victoria's Secrets' new angel!_

"You sister is right, Edith." Cora said very seriously as she rose her gaze, " I don't this kind of reading is appropriate _at all._"

* * *

Things seemed to have settled around the time the first guests of the garden party started to arrive. Matthew had not been admitted in Mary's room who claimed she had had enough _rubbing on her face_ about Kemal for the whole day. But as Sybil had kindly informed him, Edith had gone up to Mary's room, apologies had been made and now Mary was more determined than ever to go on with her plan.

She had made him promised not to mention _He, who must not be named _( as Sybil had joked) for the whole weekend and had gone to change into the dress she had prepared for the occasion. Matthew had gone to have a shower and change his clothes as well since a pair of jeans and a cozy shirt wasn't exactly the appropriate dress code for an Oxford Alumni event but as soon as he exited the bedroom with a sharp grey suit Robert had lent him (it was slightly large for him, but still), he looked up to see Mary coming out of her bedroom at the other side of the corridor. His throat went dry as his eyes travelled through the length of the silk blue dress which emphasized her curves perfectly, maybe a little bit _too perfectly _for a simple garden party.

Matthew tried to savour as much as he could of that vision before Mary would inevitably realize he was there, but as he noticed mr Carson disapproving openly the way he was looking at her, Matthew realized that it wouldn't have brought anything good. He realized he would have had to spend the entire afternoon shooting daggers at all the men that would have looked at her inappropriately. _Well,_ Matthew sighed as he reached out to her before descending the big staircase, _at least the butler would have helped him._

The party was going quite smoothly, Robert had introduced him to various Law School's luminaries who had given him some useful tips for his exams, while Mary had uncharacteristically befriended all the female participants of the event. Her technique was to put each and everyone of them to a test with a couple of unsuspected questions and if she decided _she _liked them enough, she would introduce them right away to Matthew.

But out of the few of them who had actually met _Mary_'s standards, Matthew hadn't seem that interested. He wasn't trying to sabotage Mary's plan, he truly wasn't, but as much as he appreciated the fact that she was visibly trying to be less intrusive than the time she had tried to pair him up with Anna, it was her very _presence_ that made everything so difficult for Matthew. How could he bring himself to get interested in some other girl, when the young woman he was in love with was standing next to her?

After a few rather awkward introductions where he had definitely struggled to keep the conversation going, Matthew found himself in a very pleasing exchange without even realizing it. He rose his gaze to look at girl who seemed pretty interested in what he had to say ( he hadn't even really bothered to look at the other ones he had talked to) and realized she was actually rather pretty.

She wasn't as attractive as Mary, he supposed, but the truth was that her looks were worlds apart from the likes of Mary's. Matthew didn't even know if she was his type at all, but he had to admit those strawberry blonde locks paired with gentle green eyes and that angel face were certainly very pleasing by the eye.

"So you specialized in Industrial Law, then?" the pretty girl asked, "You must be very brave to take on that particular branch. I always found it very tricky."

" Believe me, sometimes I wander what got me there too," Matthew joked, sharing a laugh with her, "but in the end it surely isn't boring and it should pay off when I finally get my licence."

"Definitely."

" And what are your plans for the future exactly?"

"I chose Family Law," the red head replied, " My father owns a law firm in London which specializes in it, but I actually found it really interesting so I can't complain!"

A few topics and chuckles later, the girl realized they had lost Mary to the bar and decided to ask curiously, " So, what does your girlfriend do?"

"My … _what_?" Matthew mumbled before he realized he was talking about Mary. "Oh, no no no! Mary and I are just friends! I—I mean, we've been best friends for ten years. That's why we're really close!" he managed to explain. The girl didn't seem so sad to hear about that, so Matthew decided to ask, "I'm sorry, I don't think I know your name yet."

The pretty girl blushed, "My name is Lavinia, Lavinia Swire."

* * *

Mary finally spotted her sisters chatting away from the crowd. She was glad Matthew had finally decided to cooperate with _her _plan to find _him_ a girlfriend, but at the second mention of common law, civil law and something like that, they had completely lost her.

She picked up her glass of Pinot from the bar and quickly made her way through the grounds until she reached her two little sisters. Now that she was getting farer and farer and Matthew's smiling figure was getting smaller, Mary didn't really know why the possibility of her success made her feel so incredibly odd. Yes, her heart was aching because of the boringness those two were certainly going to share in the future, but they did seem in sync and wasn't _his happiness _all that she wished for?

"Hello stranger," Sybil greeted her as she raised her champagne flute theatrically, " are we planning a wedding already?" she joked.

"I don't know about that," Mary replied very seriously, " but he's finally _talking_ to a girl, so I think there's an improvement. Really, I don't know why he's so difficult about it! With the way he looks he could get any girl, if he only tried!"

"Oh … I _wonder why_ he's being so _difficult_!" Edith interjected, her tone half melancholic, half amused.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mary retorted quite annoyed by her sister's intervention, while Sybil tried not to show her laughs as she shared a complicit look with her blonde sister.

"_Nothing_!" Edith promptly replied, "I was just sharing your frustration."

"You don't think I can get him a girl, do you?" Mary replied, this time foreshadowing a challenge.

"It's not that I _don't think _you can, it's just that I _am pretty sure_ you won't!" that was the last straw.

"Alright, what do you want to bet?"

"A _bet _?" Edith echoed throughly amused.

"Yes!" Mary reaffirmed, "Whatever you wish! I'm pretty determined!"

"What about dinner at Amaya?"

Mary hesitated. Amaya was the girls' favourite indian restaurant in London, but it was also extremely expensive. The last thing she wanted was to lose a bet _and _offer Edith a two hundred pounds dinner in one go but as her sister gave her that hideous smirk, she found herself agreeing, "Alright." she said through her teeth, " If Matthew makes a move on a girl before tonight is over, you will have to offer me a dinner at Amaya. If he doesn't, I will."

"And to Sybil too!" Sybil interjected.

"What do you mean, _you too_?" Mary frowned.

"Do you really believe you can get through a dinner without killing each other? You need me to play referee!"

"You could always pay your own dinner, you know?" Edith pointed out.

"And what would be the fun in that?" Sybil grinned, but Mary's attention was taken away from her as they witnessed Matthew excusing himself from the pretty red head and heading back to the house.

Mary looked at the scene in panic, while Edith was already grinning from ear to ear. "Excuse me, I'll go and see what's wrong." Mary informed them and before Edith could make one of her nasty remarks, she speed up her pace to reach her best friend.

As they watched their sister going after Matthew and entering the library with him through the glass door, Sybil noticed the smug still hadn't left Edith's face. "He could always make a move on Mary, you know?" she ventured, "He couldn't take his eyes off of her this afternoon … Even more than usual."

"That's only because she looked even more _sluttish _than usual."

Sybil wrinkled her nose at the word 'sluttish' but decided to go on, " You know, that's odd … I've noticed how she seems to look prettier whenever he's around, I'm not sure she does that on purpose but she does …"

"They are both ridiculous." Edith stated merciless, " Even if, to be honest, Matthew is the worst of the two. He knows he is love with her and chooses to do nothing about it, at least she has a bit of fun in the mean time."

"That is why _that_ was an extremely unfair bet. You know he won't make a move on a girl even if a gun was pointed to his temple."

"We don't know that," Edith justified herself, " he can always decide to finally make a move on our sister!" she concentrated for a few seconds to give her assertion the necessary seriousness, but Sybil's face just made her crack up. "Who am I kidding, I'm already tasting my curry!"

"Girls," a low voice startled them from behind their backs, "Will you be so kind to tell me what you're all up to? Mary's had a strange behaviour the whole afternoon!" their father asked them quite concerned.

"Nothing to worry about, Papa." Sybil reassured him.

"It's only Mary's usual lost cause." Edith pointed out.

Robert sighed, "Has she not given up yet?"

"I'm sorry, Papa." Edith replied, "but she's not having Matthew's babies anytime soon, if that's what you're asking."

"That's a shame … Those babies would have had such pretty blue eyes …" Robert cried.

"Mama would have loved them." Sybil joked.

" Who wouldn't?"

* * *

Mary panted nervously as she hurried her pace towards the library. Matthew hadn't heard her the first time she had called and now he had just stepped inside the house. She wanted to kill him. "Matthew!" she called again as she finally stepped into the library herself.

He was on the threshold and when he heard her voice, he suddenly turned. "Hey." he said simply, puzzled by her heavy breathing.

"Hey!" she echoed him, " Is everything alright?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know!" Mary cried frustrated, "One minute you're having a nice conversation with that girl and the other you're leaving her to fend for herself!"

Matthew decided to ignore the tone of accusation in her voice and went on, " I appreciate your sentiment, Mary but really it's nothing out of the ordinary. She was pretty, we had a very nice conversation about our careers and then we realized we had simply nothing else to talk about. These things happen …"

"_No they don't!_" Mary cried exasperated, leaving him perplexed, " Why do you always have to be like this? Why do you always have to give up? I'm trying to understand you Matthew, I truly am, but I don't! That girl was practically _undressing _you with her eyes and you tell me you are having none of it! You will never know what is the perfect relationship for you, if you never get in one!"

Now her words had become harsh, and Matthew didn't really want to put up with it, "Are you giving relationship advices now?" he said with unwanted malignancy, " I didn't know _your boyfriend _was cheating on you because things were going so well …"

"This is none of your business! And you had promised!" Mary cried, starting to feel the sting of the tears in her eyes. "Why do you have to hide behind _my_ failures? Why can't you open yourself to someone? _Why?!_"

"Because _I am in love with you!_" Matthew shouted in his frustration, and his jaw dropped as soon as he realized those words had actually escaped his mouth.

Mary froze as the air around them became impossibly chilly. There was no easy way to process those few words, " You're only just saying that …" she managed to stammer, "You don't really—"

But before she could finish her rational explanation of his outburst, Matthew had taken her face between his hands and had placed his lips firmly on hers. She didn't move at first, she _couldn't _move, but her frozen body seemed to come back to life as soon as his lips started to move on hers. Before she could even realize it, her lips were moving with his and her arms had practically snaked around his neck.

The whole situation felt incredibly surreal, this was _not_ the same kiss they had shared when they were fourteen. This was _one hell of a kiss_ and Mary suddenly felt incredibly jealous of whoever had taught Matthew to kiss like that in the ten years gap that there had been between the two kisses.

As the adrenaline started to slack off and his sanity was beginning to come back to him, Matthew fully realized what he was doing and while he wanted that moment to last forever, he simply couldn't go on without knowing what her reaction had been. She obviously had been an active participant to the kiss, but Matthew felt the need to look into her big brown eyes, those eyes that always gave away the truth of her heart.

But as their lips parted and he distanced himself from her shy and awkward through his panting, he didn't have the time to study her eyes properly because once she had caught her breath, Mary had pulled him back into another kiss without thinking it twice. She needed time to process what she felt, she needed her finger to go through his blonde hair, she needed to feel the heat of his body against hers. She needed all of that as further prove that what she was feeling was real.

This time, it didn't took long before she opened her mouth to welcome his tongue, so gentle one moment but throughly passionate the other when properly teased by her own. Matthew couldn't quite believe it. His excitement, his love, his bubbling happiness for her acceptance reflected in his kisses and he soon found out even his hands couldn't manage to stay still. This this time, they did not reach for her perfectly shaped face, but they snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to him, exploring attentively those beautiful curves that blue dress enhanced perfectly.

The silence of the small library was soon replaced by the soft moaning of their open-mouth kisses, which passion grew greater by the minute, threatening to make them loose their balance. As Matthew kept pushing his body against her to reduce the space between them and Mary's legs grew weaker and weaker by intensity of the pleasure, they ended up with Mary's back against one of the wooden bookshelves. Matthew helped her elevate her body to sit on the base of the shelf, to acquire a more comfortable position and by doing so, his eyes were captured by the beauty of the exposed skin of her neck.

His mouth traced a path of hot kisses down her neck, dangerously reaching the top of her cleavage, as Mary wrapped her legs around him to feel more close to him. Matthew's eyes were burning with passion and his thoughts were clouded by her approving moans to his actions.

"_Oh Matthew!_" Mary cried in a strangled voice, " _Yes!" _she praised him as one of his big hands had unconsciously slipped under her dress, brushing gently as it went up her slender thigh. As it reached the highest point where her womanhood was, he started to brush and tease , wanting nothing more that to bring her pleasure. Suddenly he felt her hands pulling him even closer from the belt of his trousers, eager to give back. Quickly Mary unfastened the hideous leather belt and pulled down his trouser to free his growing erection. Her hands went up and down his length, their rhythm accompanied by Matthew's loud groans and incoherent mumblings.

When he felt he simply could have her touching him like that without sending him off completely, he gently stopped her by pulling her from her wrists before letting his hands disappear once again under her dress to remove her wet underwear. Her legs spread wide open but then tightened again around him as he finally entered her, urging him to go deeper.

"_Oh God, Mary …" _he groaned as his pace grew faster and her moans louder.

" _Yes, oh yes!"_ was the only thing Mary seemed to be able to say through the blissful sensations that went over her whole body at each thrust.

When even Matthew's legs started to feel like jelly, one last strong thrust was enough to make them loose their balance and they ended up, positions reversed, on the hard floor of the library. With her new empowering position, Mary rode him incessantly for several minutes until they finally reached their peak together.

Exhausted, she rolled quickly to his side and turned her head to watch his gaze lost into above their heads and his chest rising and falling at an excessive rate. Mary wished she could have just laid there, contemplating with utter confusion what had just happened in the midst of that marvellous numbness, but as she noticed the glass door of the library was opened and the sound of steps getting closer, she urged Matthew to get dressed instead.

* * *

After their heated encounter in the library, Mary and Matthew did not exchange one word for the rest of the evening. During the remaining hours of the party they made their best not to run into each other, and after the guest had all gone they were forced to eat dinner with the whole family. It had been quite an awkward affair, but even if everyone had picked on something wasn't right between them, none of them dared to say a word on the matter.

When dinner was over, Mary excused herself from her mother and sister accusing a strong headache and she walked slowly to her bedroom upstairs, she began to think about what had happened for the first time. Had those ten years of her life been a complete lie? Had Matthew spent all of those years listening to her problems, trying to always be there as his friend when he really wanted to be something more? Had he lied to her the whole time? But most importantly … had _she_ been lying to herself all this time? Was is it possible that she developed feelings for him without even noticing it?

That must have been the case because what she had felt for him in the library, what he had _made her feel _there was not the brotherly affection she always thought she shared with him.

As she sat on the chaise longue to remove her painful heels and brush her bare feet on the smooth moquette, Mary heard someone knocking on the door and as her eyebrow arched for the curiosity, she encouraged the unexpected guest to come in. Blue puppy dog eyes popped in from the door and as he shyly made his way to the chaise lounge, Mary was glad in that beautifully concerned expression she could see _her_ Matthew, her best friend, her anchor, as well as the man who had made passionate love with her a few hours earlier.

"I came here to apologize," he explained as he took a seat beside her. Mary looked at him puzzled, so he decided to go on, " what happened between us in the library shouldn't have happened this way. I was frustrated and desperate … and when you kissed me back I could not control myself …"

"Don't apologize," Mary replied brushing gently his hand, " I'm glad you kissed me … I'm glad we …" she managed to say, but was surprise she could not finished the sentence as her cheeks blushed violently. " This time you really listened to me … You really did _something bold_."

Matthew smiled gently upon seeing the red on her cheeks and she smiled back, finding it hard to formulate coherent thoughts under his gaze. Matthew's smile turned into a smirk and said, "So you liked it?" he asked and Mary nodded and chuckled, "Was it better than with _Kem_?" he teased.

"Yes," Mary replied very seriously instead, " it was way better than the nights I've spent with Kemal."

"Why?"

Mary pondered for a minute but then answered, "Because _I love you_."

Matthew's heart raced as those words left her mouth and through his excitement he found himself asking, "But … _how_?"

"You've always been my favourite person in the world … It's just that I've never known what that meant until today."

Matthew smiled and cupped both of her hands with his, "I love you too."

"Do you … want to stay?" she asked hesitantly still not used at this new shyness between them, but to her greatest surprise Matthew was not shy at all and from the way he kissed her, she assumed the answer was yes.

Mary lay on her bed wrapped in his arms and thought about the future as a spark of excitement ran through her whole body like electricity until another thought pass through her mind and suddenly she grinned. Edith had been wrong, Matthew had _indeed_ made a move on a girl … and she was going to get a free dinner.

**FIN. **


End file.
